Aniraz and I were driving home on Jinnah Avenue the other day, cruising in the fast lane at a comfortable 80km per hour. I don’t know how many miles per hour that is and I’m hoping someone will tell me, but anyway, we were cruising along comfortably and just as we were passing the entrance to Fatima Jinnah Park we noticed a large cloud of dust rise just ahead of us at the side of the road.

The dust cloud rolled over a few times and then finally stopped, dissipating into a crushed Khyber with three people trapped under the squashed roof. There hadn’t been any collision, the driver of the Khyber had just been going too fast and then suddenly lost control of the car. It spun off the road and rolled over several times before coming to rest on the shoulder, facing perpendicularly to the way traffic had been going.

We were going too fast to stop and didn’t want to risk getting rear-ended, so we drove on, but at least ten other cars stopped immediately and people began running in the direction of the wrecked Khyber. The people inside were moving, thank God, and trying to get out. The Khyber was totaled, it looked like someone had set something heavy on the roof and the roof just gave way. It was very disturbing to see, because we drive a car that’s no better and no sturdier than a Khyber, and we’re pretty sure it’s made from recycled tinfoil. Plus, if the car had spun into traffic instead of onto the shoulder then there would have been a pretty massive pile-up of steel and body-parts.

Though the time of your death is set (according to Islamic belief- Qadr) you CAN be maimed/injured/crippled long before then. So dear Blogistanis, especially those of you who live in Islamabad, please drive carefully. Always wear your seat belt, and slow down. Chances are you’re not in such a hurry that driving should be a life or death situation.

* This public service announcement brought to you by Road Rash: you weren’t using that skin anyway.